


haven’t you heard the word of your body?

by intertwiningwords



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: BSL, British Sign Language, Deaf, Deaf Character, Deaf Lavender Brown, F/F, Femslash, Femslash February, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Sign Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-05 01:38:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17909546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/intertwiningwords/pseuds/intertwiningwords
Summary: lavender brown was born deaf, to two deaf parents.





	haven’t you heard the word of your body?

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer: i am NOT d/Deaf so if anything i said in this fic is incorrect or offensive, i beg that you correct me in the comments!! i actually wrote this out of spite after seeing a very poorly written deaf fic so i would hate to emulate the mistakes that other author made!!
> 
> anyway, i hope you enjoy this!! x

Lavender Brown was born Deaf, to two Deaf parents.

She learned sign language, grew up used to having her attention grabbed by touch rather than sound, and never questioned what it would be like to hear.

To her, it was just the norm.

When she went to Hogwarts, a chubby eleven-year-old with curls, she was assured that her needs would be properly met, but she was still scared. How was she going to make friends if nobody could speak her language?

Captioning floated in her sight, which was helpful, because not all of her teachers were fluent in BSL. Other students spoke to her in loud, over exaggerated tones or thought they could away talking about her right in front of her, but the handy spells she’s been taught to spell speech out before her eyes were a form of help not everyone in her position could get, and she was grateful for that.

Hermione Granger with her bushy hair and buck teeth had asked her Mum to owl her a book for learning BSL, and she had started wishing Lavender  _ ‘good morning’ _ and  _ ‘good night’  _ sometimes. It was cute, but it felt like Granger trying to prove she could learn a new language rather than actually being kind.

“Have you ever thought about getting hearing aids?” Hermione asked her one day.

“No,” Lavender replied simply.

“Oh, well, the Muggle technology around it is quite fascinating−”

“Hermione, I appreciate the sentiment, but I don’t need to be fixed,” she said.

Hermione blushed. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that you did. I was just curious because my dad has hearing impaired patients.”

Lavender wrinkled her nose at the term “hearing impaired”, but chose not to comment, tired of being the angry, disabled black girl, even at such a young age, taught to silence herself for society’s sake.

She was lonely for the first few months of school, so grateful to go back home for Christmas and be around people who understood her.

But when she returned to Hogwarts, she noticed something. The Gryffindor first years stopped avoiding her eye, and started signing “hello”. By the third person to do so, Dean Thomas, she found herself growing almost emotional.

“I asked my parents for a book about BSL for the holidays,” Parvati Patil, one of her roommates explained. “I thought it would be nice to teach a little to our classmates. I’ve always wanted to learn, but you’ve given me a good reason.”

Her signing was a little slow, a little jumbled, but Lavender didn’t care. A grin spread across her face, and she pulled the other girl into her arms for a hug.

“Thank you,” she signed, over and over after they’d pulled away.

“You’re welcome,” Parvati signed, the simple phrase coming much more smoothly. She smiled. “Merry Christmas, Lavender.”

She spelled out each letter slowly.

Lavender proceeded to explain the concept of a sign name to her. “It’s a pain to always sign each letter, especially with a long name like mine. When I was a baby, my hair grew very quickly, and I had these tight curls. So, my sign name is the letter ‘L’ in a waving movement from the side of the head. Like this.” She demonstrated it twice, and then watched as Parvati copied it.

“That’s so cool,” Parvati smiled. “Does everyone have a sign name?”

“You have to be given one, by a Deaf person,” she said. “So everyone’s is unique, and they’re very special to the people who give them, and who get them too.”

Parvati nodded again. “Would you like to walk to Potions with me?”

Lavender grinned. “Yes, please.”

And so began a beautiful friendship.

 

***

 

It was the very end of first year when Lavender gave Parvati a sign name.

“Your smile is so big and bright,” Lavender explained, loving the way that Parvati blushed. “So, I thought your sign name could be the sign for ‘smile’ with a P!”

She demonstrated it, and Parvati copied her, happy tears sparkling in her brown eyes.

“Thank you!” Parvati signed, and leaned in to hug her tightly.

It was so beautiful, to see this hearing girl touched so deeply by something as normal to Lavender as a sign name.

They pulled away, both blushing slightly.

They left Hogwarts tomorrow, and would not see each other for a whole summer.

The whole school year, Lavender wanted to be back home surrounded by a world in which sound was useless. Now, however, she’d stay for Parvati, if she could.

 

***

 

By their third year, Parvati was nearly fluent and loved being taught new words and phrases by her best friend.

Lavender’s expressive reenactments of the daily Hogwarts drama made her laugh like mad, and Lavender loved it. Although she couldn’t hear the laughter from her mouth, she knew it had to be beautiful by the way Parvati’s head tilted towards the ceiling, her eyes closed and her mouth opened wide, dimples appearing on her smooth, brown cheeks.

“Parvati, could you ask Lavender a question for me?” Neville Longbottom asked them, his hands wringing in front of him nervously.

Parvati opened her mouth to respond, but Lavender touched her shoulder softly.

“Parvati is not my interpreter,” she signed, a handy spell translating her words in front of her like floating captions on a Muggle show. “You can ask me to my face.”

Neville went red. “Sorry!” he said, and a shaky fist raised to his chest and rubbed in a circle, a sign which she had taught them all back in their first year. “I was wondering if you knew how long our Transfiguration essay needed to be? I forgot.”

“She said anywhere from 11 to 15 inches,” Lavender replied. “And don’t worry about—I know you didn’t mean anything by it.”

He gave her a nervous smile and signed “thank you” before scurrying off.

Parvati gave her a soft smile. “I’m sorry that people still don’t understand.”

“It’s okay,” Lavender replied. “I know they’re not doing it to be mean, they just don’t know any better.”

Parvati nodded. “I’m glad you’ve been nice enough to educate me.”

“I’m glad that you wanted to be educated.”

They two girls giggled, interlocking pinkies as they walked off to class.

 

***

 

It isn’t until fifth year that Lavender signed the words: “Can I kiss you?”

It was late in the Gryffindor Common Room, everyone away in their dorms for bed, but the two girls were still curled on the couch in front of the fire.

And Parvati’s lips had parted, head tilted in confusion for a moment, before she smiled, nodded her head, and signed “yes” with much enthusiasm.

Shy and clumsy, they had leaned in and kissed, fumbling hands and bumping noses, dissolving into laughter at their own awkwardness before leaning in for another, and another, and another.

 

***

 

By seventh year, Lavender and Parvati walked the halls with linked arms.

It was different than how they did as little girls with long uniform skirts and shy smiles. This was a link of love, their shoulders pressed together.

They signed their gossip, kissed one another’s knuckles, and dreamed of the future.

Lavender considered working as a Healer, specializing in disabled magical children and how they could use their magic to their advantage without needing to be “fixed”. Paravti wanted to go into divination, maybe even be a professor.

They could get a flat, a pet, an engagement ring, a wedding ceremony.

Perhaps they had gotten ahead of themselves.

But it was okay to dream, right?

Because sometimes, they came true.

  
  


***

 

Five years later, Lavender and Parvati’s son was born Deaf, to a Deaf mother, and raised by her and the most understanding hearing woman.

Parvati was soft, empathetic, kind, caring, and beautiful. Lavender felt lucky to have found someone like her, to fall in love with her best friend.

And she knew that Parvati thought the same thing about her.

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading!! i hope that you enjoyed!!  
> if you did, it would mean a lot if you could hit that "kudos" button or leave me a comment below!! feedback for fanfic writers is such an amazing feeling!!


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